painting floor boards

[plasticpigeon]

Hello. We plan not to carpet a small hall and our middle room which will be a dining room, although we do plan to have rugs on both areas covering much of the floor. Personally I can't be bothered to strip stain and varnish the floor, so I thought I would paint it, perhaps with some faux grain effect and varnish over the top. I like the idea of Bona water based varnish for the topcoat, but can anyone recommend what to use underneath. I realise the varnish will protect the colour, but the colour still has to stick well. Many thanks.

 

[88v8]

If the floor is clean and any old finishes sanded sufficiently to key, well, it's wood, like any other wood.
So for faux grain, which seems a jolly idea, I'd use any relevant graining product.
Unless the boards are light and uniform in colour, it will benefit from a background scumble.

The obvious difference here is that unlike most doors, it will be walked on, so the varnish has to be decently durable.
That Bona https://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/bona-mega does seem to be a candidate.

Used to visit a house near Truro that had a painted floor in the dining room. Being a B&B it had quite a lot of traffic, but was lasting well.

Ivor